185 Tips on World Building: The Art of World Building, #7

By Randy Ellefson

From his best selling series, The Art of World Building, author Randy Ellefson has collected some of his best advice from every chapter in small, bite-sized tips. All three books are represented in the topics covered:

 

Creating Life - analogues, species/races, gods, monsters, word figures, plants, animals, and undead.

 

Creating Places - planets, continents, land features, sovereign powers, settlements, land travel, water travel, space travel, time and history, places of interest, and drawing maps.

 

Cultures and Beyond - cultures, organizations, armed forces, religions, the supernatural, systems of magic, items, languages, names, and more.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Randy Ellefson
• Release date: Jan 14, 2020
• ISBN: 9781946995308

Book preview

185 TIPS ON WORLD BUILDING

by Randy Ellefson

Copyright © 2020 Randy Ellefson / Evermore Press

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means; electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

Table of Contents

Introduction

About Me

Free Book

Templates and Newsletter

World Building University

The Podcast

YouTube Channel

Creating Life Tips

Analogues

Tip #1: Use Analogues

Tip #2: The Rule of Three

Tip #3: Don’t Use Names Poorly

Tip #4: Mix and Match Analogues

Tip #5: Make It Worth It

How Many Worlds?

Tip #1: Determine Your Goals

Tip #2: Use Extreme Worlds Sparingly

Tip #3: Be Earth-like Most Often

Tip #4: Reclaim Wasted Time

Tip #5: Don’t Get Overwhelmed

Summary of Chapter 1—Why Build a World?

The Gods

Tip #1: Decide Whether to Create Them

Tip #2: Science Doesn’t Eliminate Religion

Tip #3: Are the Gods Real?

Tip #4: We Can Reuse Deities

Tip #5: Use Analogues

Tip #6: Create a Pantheon

Tip #7: Make the Gods Vulnerable

Tip #8: Children

Tip #9: How Does Time End?

Tip #10: Create Myths

Summary of Chapter 2—Gods

Species

Tip #1: Decide Whether to Create Them

Tip #2: Decide If They’re Species or Races

Tip #3: Determine How You’ll Use Them

Tip #4: How Integrated Are They?

Tip #5: Determine How Environment Affected Them

Tip #6: Don’t Give a Species a Uniform Disposition

Tip #7: Use Avatar Creators to Invent a Head

Tip #8: Create Races for Variety

Tip #9: Decide How They Get Along with Everyone, Not Just Humans

Tip #10: Determine Their View of Magic/Technology

Summary of Chapter 3—Species

World Figures

Tip #1: Decide Who the Heroes and Villains Are

Tip #2: Determine Their Status

Tip #3: What Items Did They Have?

Tip #4: Who Were/Are Their Relatives?

Tip #5: Where Did They Learn?

Summary of Chapter 4—World Figures

Monsters

Tip #1: Do You Need Monsters?

Tip #2: Determine What It Can Do

Tip #3: Understand the Difference between Monsters, Species, and Animals

Tip #4: Decide Where Your Monster Originated

Tip #5: Decide What the Monster Wants

Summary of Chapter 5—Monsters

Plants and Animals

Tip #1: Decide Whether to Invent Plants or Animals

Tip #2: How Will You and Characters Use It?

Tip #3: Research Earth Analogues

Tip #4: Understand Classifications

Tip #5: Know Your Limits

Summary of Chapter 6—Plants and Animals

Undead

Tip #1: Decide If You Need to Invent Undead

Tip #2: Determine What the Undead Wants

Tip #3: What Type of Undead Is It?

Tip #4: Decide Its Origins

Tip #5: Can It Be Killed?

Summary of Chapter 7—Undead

Creating Places Tips

Planets

Tip #1: Understand What Our Moon Causes

Tip #2: Determine the Solar System’s Other Planets

Tip #3: Be Careful with Constellations

Tip #4: Don’t Forget Dark Constellations

Tip #5: Use Tidal Locking

Tip #6: Understand the Ocean’s Impact

Tip #7: Use Prevailing Winds to Shape the Land

Tip #8: Understand Rain Shadows

Tip #9: Know Your Desert Types

Tip #10: Use Analogues for Climate

Summary of Chapter 2—Planets

Continents

Tip #1: Decide How Many Continents to Create

Tip #2: Decide on the Hemisphere

Tip #3: Understand Plate Tectonics and Mountain Ranges

Tip #4: Waterways

Tip #5: What’s an Island?

Summary of Chapter 3—Continents

Land Features

Tip #1: Know Where Volcanic Mountains Aren’t

Tip #2: Olympus Mons on Mars is Huge…And Boring

Tip #3: A Volcano Can Be Anywhere

Tip #4: Mountains ‘Humanize’ Dragons

Tip #5: Decide How Old a River Is

Tip #6: Know Your Forest Types

Tip #7: Know Where Grasslands Are

Tip #8: Don’t Forget Wetlands!

Tip #9: Deserts Tend to be Rocky

Tip #10: Decide on the Cultivation Level

Summary of Chapter 4—Land Features

Sovereign Powers

Tip #1: Is the Sovereign Recognized?

Tip #2: You’re Head of What?

Tip #3: Invent for Today

Tip #4: Decide Who Lives There

Tip #5: What’s the World View?

Tip #6: Government Types: Authoritative States

Tip #7: Government Types: Democracies

Tip #8: Government Types: Federations

Tip #9: Government Types: Monarchies

Tip #10: Government Types: Oligarchies and More

Summary of Chapter 5—Sovereign Powers

Settlements

Tip #1: Do Quarters Exist?

Tip #2: Who Lives Here?

Tip #3: Where is Old Town?

Tip #4: What’s the Terrain Like?

Tip #5: What’s the Climate?

Summary of Chapter 6—Settlements

Land Travel

Tip #1: Make Dragons Believable

Tip #2: Terrain Slows

Tip #3: Don’t Draw to Scale

Tip #4: Know How Fast Things Travel

Tip #5: Get the Travel Template

Summary of Chapter 7—Travel Over Land

Water Travel

Tip #1: Confusion is Normal

Tip #2: Know Your Ship Rates

Tip #3: No Guns? Now What?

Tip #4: Know Your Ship Types

Tip #5: Determine Base Speeds First

Summary of Chapter 8—Travel by Water

Space Travel

Tip #1: Distance Changes

Tip #2: Know Your Engine Types

Tip #3: Be Consistent

Tip #4: Decide on Internal Structure

Tip #5: Does Your External Structure Matter?

Summary of Chapter 9—Travel in Space

Time and History

Tip #1: Create a Universal Calendar

Tip #2: What Does Your Universal Calendar Start With?

Tip #3: Be Smart About Names

Tip #4: Be Careful Altering Timeframes

Tip #5: Create Past Events

Summary of Chapter 10—Time and History

Places of Interest

Tip #1: What Lives in the Catacombs?

Tip #2: Use Step Wells

Tip #3: Create Phenomenon Sites

Tip #4: What’s Under Water?

Tip #5: The Ordinary Can be Famous, Too

Summary of Chapter 11—Places of